Priest cleared in sex case

Detroit, Michigan -

But he's banned from serving in Detroit parishes

Although a jury acquitted the former pastor of St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Detroit of molesting a 7-year-old boy, the Rev. Luis Javier de Alba Campos remains banned from wearing a clerical collar or serving as a priest in this area while the Archdiocese of Detroit continues its own review of the abuse allegation.

"Thanks to God. Thanks to the community. Thanks to my attorneys," de Alba Campos said Thursday, moments after a Wayne County Circuit Court jury returned not-guilty verdicts on two counts of criminal sexual misconduct.

The boy testified that the priest fondled him as the two slept together, after the priest got drunk while visiting the boy's home and was invited to spend the night by the boy's parents. The priest took the stand to defend himself, admitting he was drunk and showed poor judgment to sleep with the boy, but denying that he fondled the youth.

One juror, Susan Maveal of Southgate, said she voted for acquittal, even though she found the boy's testimony credible. "I believe him. I think he did a fantastic job," Maveal said.

"There just wasn't enough evidence beyond a shadow of a doubt" to convict the priest, Maveal said. But she said she and some other jurors "personally think he did it, and he's guilty."

She said the priest displayed "despicable character" by going to a parishioner's house, getting drunk and sleeping with the boy.

Read the article at Detroit Free Press.com dated January 14, 2005

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